IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
The Firs, ALSTON, CA9 3RW

One of a dying breed - cottage hospitals are giving way to vast regional hospitals which can offer a wide range of specialisms. That this one has survived is no doubt due to the isolation of Alston, which is over 30 km from any larger settlement. The hospital was founded in 1908 and is named after the person who gave £5,000 to build it and an additional endowment for maintenance. http://www.cybermoor.org/lid/index.asp?intID=388

See another photo from this location taken in 2008 Image The original concept of a cottage hospital was a small rural building having several beds. The advantages of such a hospital in villages were the provision of care which avoided long journeys to county or voluntary hospitals, facilities to deal more immediately with emergencies and familiarity the local physician might have with their patients that may affect their treatment. This local knowledge of the patient would probably have been lost had they been referred to their nearest county hospital, as was typical for poorer patients. Some of these buildings continued to be known as cottage hospitals until recent times. The term community hospital is now applied to most of these buildings where they are used to deliver healthcare, reflecting the wider range of services that are provided in more modern times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottage_hospital The building above on the left is the former St. Paul's Methodist Church built in 1863. It is located at the top of Front Street and was sold along with the neighbouring church hall (also known as the schoolroom) and the Osborne House in 2002 for conversion into domestic accommodation Image http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk/news/2.2962/who-was-lady-of-the-chapel-1.643080

The bird house in the form of the hospital building Image was made as a gift to the hospital by Nenthead resident, Lowson Robinson. In the garden of the bungalow he built in Church Meadow, Nenthead, the ex-Miner and retired builder has made three miniature villages and a variety of other buildings Image; Image http://www.tynedalelife.co.uk/2013/09/the-making-of-a-super-model/

Samuel King's School in Alston is slightly right of centre; the Ruth Lancaster James Hospital is largely out of view to the right of the image.

A purpose built hostel, busy as it is on both the Pennine Way and C2C cycle routes.

The address is The Firs, Alston. An ideal stop-over on the Pennine Way and the Coast-to-Coast cycle route for walkers and cyclists.

Bruntley Meadows is an attractively sedate looking residential street in Alston though perhaps oddly located in the town claiming to be the highest market town in England. Park Fell is the distant hill.